Chapter 3WHY OLD-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP STOPPED WORKING
In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will be just leaders.
—Sheryl Sandberg
On February 19, 2017, Susan Fowler published a blog post on her personal website. The software engineer, by her own account a “really introverted and really shy”1 person, had previously blogged on various subjects, including computer science, myrmecology (the study of ants), philosophy, physics, and software engineering. However, on this day in February, she decided to tell a “strange, fascinating, and slightly horrifying story that deserves to be told while it is still fresh in my mind, so here we go.”2
Fowler's post, titled “Reflecting on One Very, Very Strange Year at Uber,” detailed her personal account of the rampant sexism and systematic culture of sexual harassment at Uber, the multibillion-dollar ride-hailing company and her former employer. Clocking in at 2,910 words, her essay quickly went viral.
Fowler's post was the catalyst that sparked a chain of events that led to the termination of more than 20 Uber employees, including cofounder and CEO Travis Kalanick. Further investigation into the company's business practices revealed even more wrongdoings. These revelations hurt Uber's business. It lost significant market share to Lyft, a smaller player in the ride-sharing industry.3
The influence that Susan Fowler and her story carries represents a giant swing in the power dynamics of the workplace. Fowler, a single employee in ...
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